SUNDAY: a perfect day to relax, go to church, catch up on sleep, and reminisce about the fun you had on Friday and Saturday. Sunday night: a perfect chance to race to the library and spend the evening frantically finishing homework, writing papers or doing some last minute cramming. You don't want to finish all that library work, reach your point of relief and relaxation again, and then walk outside only to find that your car has been towed. With exam week steadily approaching, students should not be at a risk of finding themselves stranded at the library at 4 a.m. Programs, committees and other groups with funds to share should help Student Council to succeed in its efforts to waive parking garage fees for students who need to be on Grounds late at night.
The University parking garage currently charges 37 cents per hour from 5 p.m. until midnight for students paying with Cavalier Advantage. In the hours between midnight and 8 a.m., there is a flat rate of 75 cents for students with their IDs. This may seem like a trivial amount of money and not an issue that would give reason to ask other groups to fund a free parking initiative. However, for students who need to prepare for a week's worth of exams, this could mean many nights in the library, and when all is said and done, the 75 cents does add up.
The Student Council Parking and Transportation Committee currently is working on a solution to our parking woes. Anita Gupta, Student Council chief of staff, said, "We'd like to offer students a late night parking pass at a reduced rate for a semester in the Newcomb garage that is better than hourly but still manages to take care of maintenance costs of parking in the garage."
With bus routes halting just after midnight and the common inconvenience of the wait and roundabout routes associated with the Student Escort Service, there should be another option that encourages students to use the library facilities without the worry of losing their car to the towing terrors. Thus, Council has a proposal in the works which would waive the parking garage fee for students who need a place to keep their cars as they study through the wee hours of the morning.
The Department of parking and transportation has no problems with this initiative and, in fact, supports it fully. "We have been involved since last year when this issue came up in a different form of a similar proposal," said Rebecca White, director of parking and transportation. "When it surfaced again this year, we became involved and have continued to be." With students and Parking and Transportation in full support of free late night parking, the final step is to find funding. Gupta said, "We are continuing to explore options for long term funding, but we are currently looking at short-term solutions that will benefit students next semester."
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Council committee members are asking support of many different groups, such as the Parent's Program, alumni and the University Security and General Safety committee. Any groups that have funds that they could possibly allocate to this initiative should take up the cause. They should recognize the intrinsic reward of helping a large portion of the University student population gain hassle-free library access. If every group that can pays a small sum toward the proposal, each bit would add up to a successfully funded project. Tuition-paying students should not be asked to continually fork out change here and there just so that they can do their work in an environment conducive to studying.
With exams three weeks away, it is highly unlikely that the initiative will be in place during the all-night library sessions slowly becoming necessary for many students. As inconvenient and irritating as it will be to try to find a way to get to and from the library each night - without having a run-in with the late night workers at the impound lot - it hopefully will serve to highlight the need for free parking in the garage come spring semester.
While we wait on the final decisions and steps on implementing the Committee's proposal, White has offered a few alternatives which, with some compromise, offer a choice in library transport for now.
First, students can take the bus. The last line runs at 12:20 a.m. from the library stop. Students also can utilize the Escort Service van which runs a shuttle from Clemons Library every half hour until at least 3 a.m. Another option is to park in the parking garage and just pay the 37 cents per hour or 75 cents after midnight. Students also can buddy up to form a carpool and park at places like Clark Hall or Ruffner lots.
Yes, the choices are limited as to hours of use, parking space availability, and available spare change to pay garage fees. Until groups recognize our need for access to free parking in the garage late at night, we as students will have to make do. We have been presented with all night library facilities open to us as students at the University, but we cannot always take full advantage of them until we are also given an option of all night parking without the worry of payments.
(Alex Roosenburg's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at aroosenburg@cavalierdaily.com.)
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